Professor (Keith) Chee Ooi

Professor (Keith) Chee Y. Ooi (MBBS, DipPaed, FRACP, PhD, AGAF, FGESA) is Professor of Medicine at the Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW and a Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist. He is a globally renowned clinician-scientist and an international & national authority in the fields of cystic fibrosis (CF)-related gastroenterology/pancreatology and childhood pancreatic diseases. He has published >160 journal articles (first or senior author in over 50% of these publications) and has authored international, authoritative textbook chapters in gastroenterology, CF and pancreatology. He has secured >AUD$14 million in international and national research funding. He has been listed in the World’s Top 2% Scientists (Standford/Elsevier) in the field of paediatric gastroenterology. He is also an award-winning educator - being part of the winning team for the 2025 Australian Financial Review Higher Education Awards (Teaching and Learning Excellence Category). Dr Ooi graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2000, with the Clara Myers Prize in Paediatrics. He commenced training in paediatric gastroenterology at Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick, supported by the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation Subspecialty Fellowship Award (2006, 2007). He accepted the offer of a 3-year clinical research fellowship (2007-2010) at the prestigious Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, to pursue a research path, undertake a PhD and broaden his clinical experience. He was supervised and mentored by late Dr Peter Durie (http://www.sickkids.ca/Gastroenterology/Who-We-Are/Our-History/in-memory-dr-peter-durie.html), a giant in the field of paediatric gastroenterology, CF and pancreatology. This was supported by the Sydney Children’s Hospital Travelling Fellowship Award (2007), Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Fellowship Award (2008-2010) and Career Enhancement Award, Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program (2009-2010). He was awarded both the Dick Hamilton and Clinical Research awards in 2010 by the Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto respectively, for his research excellence. He returned to Sydney in mid-2010 as a clinical academic in pursuit of research and academia, while having opportunities for clinical interface within a tertiary hospital setting. He completed his PhD on genotype-phenotype correlations in CF at UNSW in December 2014 and was awarded the Dean's Rising Star award (UNSW Medicine) in 2015. He was awarded Fellow of the American Gastroenterology Association (AGAF) for research contributions (in 2021) and named as 1 of 3 distinguished leaders in the field of CF pancreas internationally (in 2023). In 2025, he was awarded Fellow of the Gastroenterology Society of Australia (FGESA). He has demonstrated rapid academic trajectory as evidence of his research excellence despite clinical commitments: Senior Lecturer (2015), Associate Professor (2019), Professor (2025). Clinically, he is the co-Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Clinic and Director of Cystic Fibrosis-Gastroenterology and Pancreas Care Programs; he sees children with all aspects of gastrointestinal, pancreatic and nutritional conditions. I am an internationally and nationally recognised expert in in cystic fibrosis (CF)-related gastroenterology and nutrition, as well as in exocrine and childhood pancreatic diseases. I have interests and expertise in the gut microbiome and diet in gut health and disease, including gut inflammation, as well as their impact on the overall disease phenotype. My research is translational with experience in running clinical trials as the chief investigator. I am also an innovator in technology-based medical education. I co-founded and developed PlayMed, a serious game for teaching medicine.